I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

No one quite knows where the statement, revenge is a dish best served cold, comes from beyond it being French and from the 1800s....and that would absolutely be the best way to describe this novel. This novel bounces back and forth from the present and multiple peoples points of view while in the elevator, to Sarah's point of view beginning way in the past. This is certainly an interesting look into the cut-throat, greedy, and frankly, disgusting, world of corporate business. This certainly makes you way more disgusted by the 1%-ers who are truly greedy assholes who feel like they can (and often do) get away with whatever they want....except they had karma truly come and bit them in the ass. This was a crazy slow boil of a story that ended making me feel like karma certainly had been served. A really good thrill and it was quite enjoyed! I believe this was the author's debut as well so I will for SURE be coming back for more from Megan Goldin!

I think I am going to be the odd one out who just didn't LOVE this book. Perhaps it's because I listened to it on audiobook and felt a little confused as it jumped between past and present day? Either way, I am happy I still gave this one a try because I am quickly becoming a fan of Megan Goldin's writing!

Pros:

-The plot was super unique. Having done a few escape rooms in my time, the premise of locking people together in a elevator who all despise each other and forcing them to work together to survive was both anxiety inducing and a nice twist to a traditional thriller

-I loved getting an insider's view into the life of the characters who work in this financial organization. It was a very nice element to the story and helped the reader understand more about the fast paced, soul-sucking work that does happen in real life!

Cons:

-I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I didnt love them, but didnt hate them either. I think I would have preferred to read them in physical print vs. audio. Sometimes it can be hard if there are multiple narrators.

-This felt fast paced and then slow paced in certain parts and I had trouble "picking it back up" because I wasnt 100% invested

Overall, I love Goldin's writing and authenticity. I'll be reading anything she publishes in the future!

It took me a couple of chapters to get into this book but this thriller was great! “The Escape Room” was fun to read and I really enjoyed how the story developed. This thriller is fast-paced and a page-turner. I would recommend this to everyone.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

So good! I wasn’t sure about this book at first, but the more I read the more I liked it. A great thriller for these times. Definitely read it.

The Escape Room is a unique book in its premise. It tells the story of how an escape room challenge turns deadly for a group of up and coming Wall Street financiers.
The four main characters & co-workers discover that the escape room challenge that they thought was a simple work-repoire builder actually involved much tougher decisions.
I enjoyed this sleek mystery and look forward to more books by Megan Golden.

Now that is how you write a thriller! This was a blast to read while following Vincent, Sam, Jules, and Sylvie. I had no idea what this was about-as per usual-just kept seeing this on my newsfeed at how fun and crazy read it was. AND IT WAS. This was fast-paced and a page-turner for sure. I would recommend this to everyone.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin's Press and to Megan Goldin for the opportunity

DNF - Based on reviews and the fact that I have not picked this one up yet I will not be reading it. Thank you publisher and netgalley for the early copy!

If you’re a mystery/thriller fan, The Escape Room is a perfect read. I love how the story built up through the relationships between the different characters - and it took some turns I didn’t expect. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

I loved this one!! Right until the last two chapters. I adore a locker room mystery and this one delivered! High stakes, alternating storylines, real world issues. But the end fell flat, just a bit too tidy. Still, it helped the hours pass at work, so it’s a pick for me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #netgalley

An example of the supreme art of war – how to subdue the enemy without fighting

Vincent de Vries is the Senior Vice President of Stanhope and Sons. It is a company strategy to set up a crack, multidisciplinary teams that are small and nimble and help fulfil the fantasy of every investment banker – to retire at forty. Vincent's team is made up of Sam, whose wife spends his money faster than he can earn it; Jules, a lawyer who has a drug and alcohol addiction; Sylvie, who was a catwalk model as a teenager and Lucy, a computer nerd with Goth tendencies and an obvious inability to connect socially. Sara Hall is hired as an analyst for the team. She has two degrees, including an MBA, with a major in corporate finance and investment banking. She has yet to learn that you become addicted to the salary, that success becomes your heroin but that it is killing you softly, not to mention the brutal hours at work, the backroom machinations and the constant stress that is a continuous undercurrent of your life.

The team has recently failed to secure two deals in a row and are called for an escape room challenge, the results of which would be used for internal consultations about internal staff planning. They will be locked in a room and have to solve many clues to get out. They work together, usually spend more time together than apart, they know each other better than they know themselves, know each other’s secrets and lies …… and they despise each other.

This was one of those books that you cannot put down because you need to know what is going to happen next. I would highly recommend it, the twist of the ending is something that I did not foresee, and it blew me away.

Saphira

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

I had put off reading this ARC because I thought it was a horror, and I really don't like gory stuff, but it's definitely more of a mystery/thriller. This is a fun, quick ready. My only criticism is because she uses a first-person narrator, the ending is literally her telling you what happened rather than showing.

Oh. My. God. This book was incredible! I have been gushing about it relentlessly with friends since having finished it.

I loved everything about it and now I want to read everything that Megan has written. I thought the pacing and suspense was done to perfection!

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and review this title. I will review this title at a different date.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title.

I enjoyed this one, but didn’t love. It was a good book to pick up and tune out the world.

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

I was sent this book months ago and even got to meet Megan briefly at Book Expo. I really wished I had read The Escape Room before I met her because I would have LOVED to ask her about some of these characters!

First thing to know is that this book is probably going to be one of those where you gotta just let things roll- it’s got a thriller-ish with a side plot worthy of a really great soap opera type show vibe and sure, there may be some times you’ll think “That can’t happen”- just go with it and enjoy it. Because it is good!

What I liked:

Hello, cover. I mean that one eye peeping out?! Give me more!

Lucy. Lucy was a character that I could really get behind. Plus, without Lucy- the story loses some intrigue.

The cut-throat world of finance. I couldn’t work in that kind of environment- but coupled with a thriller-ish story line- it was entertaining as hell.



Bottom line: Just go get this book. And if someone invites you to do an escape room, think twice.

This is hands down one of the best thrillers I’ve read so far this year. The story was well laid out & I loved the conflicting timelines. Excellent execution, excellent ending! If she writes more books as good a this one, I’ll be a die hard fan forever! Definitely see myself being nervous to step into an elevator for awhile!

When an escapist exercise turns into an emotional mystery, the thrill & suspense is inevitable. Setting up the throat-cut competition in a financial world and the consequential flaws due to lack of hostility can spark a needed dialogue in the midst of the this fiction. Narrated through split timelines, one from the perspective of a deceased character and one from the four corporate competitors in an elevator. Complexity of the individuals in this story is hard to miss but impressive when you find yourself not rooting for anyone yet completely engrossed in the story.

Total page turner; I ended up finishing it in just two (late) nights! I loved the premise of the book, and also seeing the team dynamics at Stanhope, which reminded me a bit of my own management consulting training… though obviously we weren’t QUITE as cutthroat :) While at first I wondered how this could realistically escalate to murder, that was eventually made clear, so the book didn’t seem quite as far-fetched as I initially thought from the first chapter. Highly recommend this as a fun thriller!

I did not care for this one, although I appreciate the opportunity to read it. The characters were universally unlikable. This doesn't automatically turn me off from a book; however, I found them to also be one dimensional, poorly written, and they behaved in unbelievable ways. I had a very hard time making it all the way through.

I recieved an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book and will recommend it often to lovers of mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels!